Peter Thiel, a PayPal cofounder and venture capitalist, discusses his support for US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, at the National Press Club last October. (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor, Facebook board member and self-described contrarian, has become Silicon Valley's most notorious and enthusiastic backer of President Donald Trump and his plan to "make America great again." But if Trump's plan goes off the rails, Thiel appears to have something of an exit strategy. Call it Plan B.

Thiel, who was born in Germany and became a naturalized American as a child, obtained New Zealand citizenship in March 2011, according to the country's Department of Internal Affairs. The New Zealand Herald first reported on the prominent venture capitalist's citizenship there, which it discovered while looking into Thiel's recent purchase of a $10 million estate on the country's Lake Wanaka.

A spokesperson for Thiel declined to comment. The Herald reported that Nathan Guy, internal affairs minister, granted Thiel his citizenship on the advice of other government officials.

It is ironic that Thiel held New Zealand citizenship at the same time he served on the transition team for President Donald Trump, who built his successful campaign around a nationalist platform that included limiting the number of immigrants and building a wall along the length of the US-Mexico border. "From this day forward, it's going to be only America first, America first," Trump proclaimed during his inauguration speech earlier this month.

Thiel's affinity for New Zealand is no secret. The PayPal cofounder and first outside investor in Facebook once called the island country a "utopia." Thiel is also a longtime fan of the fantasy series Lord Of The Rings, and films based on the book were shot in the country. Lord Of The Rings has been a source of inspiration for the names of Thiel's companies, including investment firms Mithril Capital and Valar Ventures, as well as prominent data-mining company Palantir Technologies.

Typically, a person must live in New Zealand for at least 70 percent of the time over a five-year period to obtain citizenship, according to published reports. It is unlikely that Thiel, who spends the majority of his time in California, has met that requirement. New Zealand law states that the Minister of Immigration can bypass that requirement and personally approve someone's citizenship if it "would be in the public interest because of exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian or other nature."

In an October story in the New Yorker, Sam Altman, the Y Combinator President and Thiel friend, discussed the Facebook board member's New Zealand property briefly and alluded to it as being part of a backup plan in case of apocalyptic circumstances. In another New Yorker article published this month, several Silicon Valley notables are quoted as saying that New Zealand has become a favorite location for the super-rich who seek a haven where they could survive in a "doomsday scenario." Another Thiel friend, venture capitalist Reid Hoffman told the magazine:

Saying you’re ‘buying a house in New Zealand’ is kind of a wink, wink, say no more. Once you’ve done the Masonic handshake, they’ll be, like, ‘Oh, you know, I have a broker who sells old ICBM silos, and they’re nuclear-hardened, and they kind of look like they would be interesting to live in.’

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